Last year you listed the (something like) 10 most-widely answered tossups and the 10 least-widely answered tossups of the tournament, and their conversion rates. I thought that was really interesting and spurred good discussion. Do you have those numbers?

Carangoides ciliarius wrote:Last year you listed the (something like) 10 most-widely answered tossups and the 10 least-widely answered tossups of the tournament, and their conversion rates. I thought that was really interesting and spurred good discussion. Do you have those numbers?

2010 HSNCT round 11 wrote:This operation would be performed twice after encountering an operator when parsing a postfix expression. It would also be performed to obtain the address to which a subroutine should return and to obtain the parameters to that subroutine if they weren't passed through (*) registers. It puts the "F-O" in the acronym "LIFO." For 10 points--name this operation that removes the top element from a stack, the opposite of push.

William Lyon Mackenzie King wrote:There are few men in this Parliament for whom I have greater respect than the leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. I admire him in my heart, because time and again he has had the courage to say what lays on his conscience, regardless of what the world might think of him. A man of that calibre is an ornament to any Parliament.

It was an actual tossup; if I recall correctly it consisted mostly of describing how the electric field due to a dipole decreases at an inverse-cube rate with respect to distance. In my room, it was negged with +3.

2010 HSNCT round 2 wrote:The Wilton Diptych depicts this ruler kneeling before Mary and Jesus. The Lords Appellant tried to seize power from this ruler, who also saw his power threatened by a rebellion led by Jack Straw and (*) Wat Tyler. Ousted by Henry of Bolingbroke, this king was advised by John of Gaunt and put down the Peasants' Revolt. For 10 points--name this English Plantagenet king who succeeded Edward III.

2010 HSNCT round 4 wrote:A Cotes' spiral results from a central force proportional to this power of the distance. At large distances, tidal forces are proportional to this power of the distance, as are the B fields around a magnetic dipole and the E fields around an electric dipole, because dipoles produce an (*) inverse square potential. For 10 points--give this power that is less than the radial dependence in Coulomb's law.

answer: _-3_ or _r to the -3_ or _inverse cube_ or _inverse cubic_ or _1 over distance cubed_ (accept similar answers; do not prompt on "3" or "distance cubed")

2010 HSNCT round 10 wrote:It is when Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby were "uptown" in a 1974 film, and names the larger part of the story of Arthur, a bike factory worker, in Alan Sillitoe's debut novel. Elton John says this time is "all right for fighting," and it was when (*) Archibald Cox was fired as Watergate special prosecutor in a "massacre." For 10 points--identify this time also naming a 1977 "fever" contracted at a disco by John Travolta.

Gosh darn. I watched that God of Carnage TU go dead in a game I was watching during a bye. I wish questions about Broadway and plays were a bigger part of the canon.

On a different note, I felt that the difficulty of the tossups were, for the most part, spot-on for the field and the occasion. I do remember getting a little bit tired of the general knowledge questions (I remember two questions about bodies of water, like "the sea" and something else, in the same round), but overall, I thought it was pretty OK.

I think the power percentage for history questions is the most interesting especially with the very few that were powered in at least twenty rooms.

Also, as the author of The Garden Party tossup, I'd say that it was pretty much impossible to power if you hadn't read the story, but almost impossible to not power it if you have; I'm a little surprised that it wasn't powered in any rooms, to be honest.

What was the Carl Sandburg tossup? For such an important and (i sure thought) well-known writer, for no one to power a tossup on him almost certainly means the leadin and first clues were way too hard.

2010 HSNCT round 8 wrote:Alfred V. Frankenstein edited a volume of folk songs collected by this man called ~Songs of America~, while his posthumously published memoirs were called ~Ever the Winds of Chance~. He won a Grammy for his part in Aaron Copland's (*) ~Lincoln Portrait~, and a Pulitzer for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. For 10 points--name this author whose poems include "Prayers of Steel," "Fog," and "Chicago."

2010 HSNCT round 9 wrote:His output in Hollywood included uncredited work on ~Gunga Din~ and ~Mildred Pierce~, and five films by Howard Hawks, including ~Land of the Pharoahs~. The first film based on one of his own books was 1933's ~The Story of (*) Temple Drake~. The screenplays for ~The Big Sleep~ and ~To Have and Have Not~ were penned by--for 10 points--what Nobel Laureate more famous for works such as ~The Sound and the Fury~?

The Cnidaria tossup had an extrremely easy leadin that really shouldn't have been there in the first place. It was something like "This phylum contains the world's most poisionous sea animal" or something like that, and anyone could just think of it. (Although, interstingly, we were against TJ when it came up and Olivia? didn't power it until a clue later.)

By the way, what was the Russia tossup on?

Jasper LeeUniversity of TennesseeThe Ohio State University '14Solon High School '10

2010 HSNCT round 8 wrote:Since late 2008 in this country automakers GAZ and KAMAZ have announced large layoffs and the collapse in energy prices has hurt natural gas producers Novatek and Lukoil. In the last 20 years the population has dropped by five million, and the need to stabilize the population has led to recent fights with (*) Georgia and Ukraine. Gazprom is a company in--for 10 points--what country with large oil reserves in Siberia?

2010 HSNCT round 12 wrote:The deadliest marine organism to humans is in this phylum; parts of these organisms are capable of reaching accelerations of 40,000 gs. Like sponges, they lack distinct circulatory systems and have two cell layers; unlike sponges and ctenophores, they have namesake (*) cells that can inject venoms into their prey. For 10 points--name this phylum once called Coelenterata that contains the deadly box jellyfish.

"Deadliest" is open to discussion as I'm sure that some animals kill more people or have deadlier venom (Blue-Ringed octopus came to mind when I heard the TU); because of this ambiguous leadin I'm sure many people decided to wait.

Jeffrey LiMission San Jose High '11Berkeley '15

But I shall forgive you. Some things are beautiful because they cannot be obtained.

nadph wrote:it namedropped a fairly famous poem while still in power (it might've been "Skunk Hour"). What were its conversion stats?

Yes, this mentioned "Skunk Hour" in the power zone:

2010 HSNCT round 12 wrote:While serving as a conscientious objector during World War II, this man wrote his first book, ~Land of Unlikeness~. He wrote of having lost a "summer millionaire" who "seemed to leap from an L. L. Bean catalogue" in a poem written for Elizabeth Bishop, "Skunk Hour," while he wrote of the "old South (*) Boston Aquarium" in another work. For 10 points--name this poet of ~Lord Weary's Castle~ who wrote "For the Union Dead."

From Round 3 of the 2010 NSC2. One order in this phylum, Pennatulacea, bioluminesces upon contact, and its members employ a balancing organ called a statocyst. Contact with some members of this phylum can lead to Irukandji syndrome, with symptoms including tachycardia and vomiting. The parasitic Myxozoams may belong to Protozoa or to this phylum, whose organisms secrete a (*) basement membrane that is separated from the epithelium by mesoglea. Members of this phylum possess venom-containing cells called nematocysts, used to catch prey or as a defense mechanism. For 10 points, name this phylum of invertebrates like hydras, coral, sea anemones, and jellyfish.ANSWER: Cnidarians

2010 HSNCT round 12 wrote:The deadliest marine organism to humans is in this phylum; parts of these organisms are capable of reaching accelerations of 40,000 gs. Like sponges, they lack distinct circulatory systems and have two cell layers; unlike sponges and ctenophores, they have namesake (*) cells that can inject venoms into their prey. For 10 points--name this phylum once called Coelenterata that contains the deadly box jellyfish.

I'm pretty sure the first tossup does a much better job of differentiating between the best teams in the country. I'm not saying the HSNCT question needs to be longer, but that it should have better clues that don't reward shallow knowledge and/or guessing.

BRizzle wrote:From Round 3 of the 2010 NSC2. One order in this phylum, Pennatulacea, bioluminesces upon contact, and its members employ a balancing organ called a statocyst. Contact with some members of this phylum can lead to Irukandji syndrome, with symptoms including tachycardia and vomiting. The parasitic Myxozoams may belong to Protozoa or to this phylum, whose organisms secrete a (*) basement membrane that is separated from the epithelium by mesoglea. Members of this phylum possess venom-containing cells called nematocysts, used to catch prey or as a defense mechanism. For 10 points, name this phylum of invertebrates like hydras, coral, sea anemones, and jellyfish.ANSWER: Cnidarians

I'm not a big fan of that statocyst clue, as statocysts are not unique to cnidarians and are actually quite widespread among invertebrates.

BRizzle wrote:From Round 3 of the 2010 NSC2. One order in this phylum, Pennatulacea, bioluminesces upon contact, and its members employ a balancing organ called a statocyst. Contact with some members of this phylum can lead to Irukandji syndrome, with symptoms including tachycardia and vomiting. The parasitic Myxozoams may belong to Protozoa or to this phylum, whose organisms secrete a (*) basement membrane that is separated from the epithelium by mesoglea. Members of this phylum possess venom-containing cells called nematocysts, used to catch prey or as a defense mechanism. For 10 points, name this phylum of invertebrates like hydras, coral, sea anemones, and jellyfish.ANSWER: Cnidarians

I'm not a big fan of that statocyst clue, as statocysts are not unique to cnidarians and are actually quite widespread among invertebrates.

Seems like the mesoglea clue may be a little bit garbled too (I'm pretty sure the mesoglea is between two layers of epithelia--endoderm and ectoderm--rather than between one of those layers and the basement membrane).

nadph wrote:it namedropped a fairly famous poem while still in power (it might've been "Skunk Hour"). What were its conversion stats?

Yes, this mentioned "Skunk Hour" in the power zone:

2010 HSNCT round 12 wrote:While serving as a conscientious objector during World War II, this man wrote his first book, ~Land of Unlikeness~. He wrote of having lost a "summer millionaire" who "seemed to leap from an L. L. Bean catalogue" in a poem written for Elizabeth Bishop, "Skunk Hour," while he wrote of the "old South (*) Boston Aquarium" in another work. For 10 points--name this poet of ~Lord Weary's Castle~ who wrote "For the Union Dead."

No, "Skunk Hour" is not "fairly famous." In 66 rooms: 2/9/1.

I mean, "Skunk Hour" is "fairly famous" in the sense that it's probably his second- or third-most famous poem. Should it be within power in a college tournament? No. Should it be within power in a high school tournament? No, but only in the sense that I don't think Lowell is an appropriate tossup answer line for a high school tournament.

The Granny wrote:I was just going to say, I don't think Robert Lowell qualifies as "particularly famous" at the high school level, let alone any of his works.

I mean, I think you and Nikhil are getting at the same thing--to write an HSNCT tossup on Robert Lowell, you have to get down to the most famous clues for him pretty quickly, which is kind of a suboptimal situation, not least for conversion.

2010 HSNCT round 19 wrote:In one work, this author described a writer named Larry who assists the wheelchair-bound exile Ramirez, who lives in Greenwich Village. In another novel by this man, works such as ~Blood and Sand~ shape the life of Toto Casals. His best-known work opens with (*) Molina describing a movie about Irena to Valentin, his cellmate. For 10 points--name this author of ~Betrayed by Rita Hayworth~ and ~The Kiss of the Spider Woman~.

2010 HSNCT round 17 wrote:Polygon Wood was located just east of this town, where Herbert Plumer began one battle by exploding mines under Messines Ridge. The first battle at this site concluded the Race to the Sea with a defensive action by the British (*) Expeditionary Force, while the second, in 1915, saw the first use of German chemical weapons. For 10 points--name this Belgian town, the site of three large battles during World War I.

3/26/15 in 35 rooms. I think that confirms my belief that the Race to the Sea is harder than the chemical weapons usage in the second battle.